Tinutuan is Indonesian rice porridge that originated in North Sulawesi in the city of Manado, but it's also often associated with Minahasa. The most common vegetables used in tinutuan include spinach, pumpkin, cassava, and corn, but other vegetables can be used as well.
Due to its liquid consistency, it is served in a bowl, together with salted fish and a spoonful of sambal on top. This savory porridge is originally vegetarian, but on special occasions, meat is sometimes added to the dish. It is commonly served for breakfast, and people usually flock to the stalls in the early morning to get this nutritious breakfast.
MOST ICONIC Tinutuan
View moreKupat tahu is a traditional dish consisting of ketupat (a type of rice cake) and tofu in peanut sauce. The ingredients usually include rice cakes, tofu, bean sprouts, chili peppers, peanuts, garlic, brown sugar, water, and kecap manis soy sauce.
The tofu is fried until golden brown, the bean sprouts are blanched, and the peanuts are fried, then combined with garlic, chili peppers, and water in order to create the peanut sauce, which is additionally mixed with brown sugar. The rice cakes, fried tofu, and bean sprouts are topped with the peanut sauce, and the dish is then drizzled with sweet soy sauce.
If desired, kupat tahu can be enriched with lime juice and garnished with shrimp crackers. This dish is traditionally served for breakfast.
Spamsilog is a traditional dish originating from the Philippines, consisting of garlic fried rice, fried eggs, and Spam, the canned, trademarked, and square-shaped mixture of pork, water, salt, sugar, potato starch, and sodium nitrate. Spam is boiled in a bit of water, then fried in oil and arranged on a plate with garlic fried rice and sunny-side-up fried eggs.
The dish is traditionally served piping hot for breakfast, and it's accompanied by sliced tomatoes or cucumbers. The name of the dish contains all three components: Spam (Spam), sinagang fried rice (si), and itlog fried eggs (log).
Papeda is a traditional dish, often said to be the local porridge variety. It is made with sago, the staple food of the native people of Maluku and Papua. Sago is the eastern Indonesian counterpart to rice, the preferred starch in central and western Indonesia.
Papeda is made with flour that is extracted from the plant, actually the trunk of the sago tree. The dried flour is then vigorously mixed with water, salt and sugar. The final texture of the dish is very unusual: it is thick, glutinous, and viscous, and similar to porridge or a pale pudding.
Hotsilog is a traditional dish originating from the Philippines, consisting of garlic fried rice, fried eggs, and hot dogs. The Filipino-style hot dogs are red and juicy, usually slightly cut on the sides. They're boiled, then fried in oil and arranged on a plate with garlic fried rice and sunny-side-up fried eggs.
Hotsilog is traditionally served for breakfast and it's accompanied by banana ketchup, atchara (pickled shredded papaya), and tomato slices on the side.
Crowned as the unofficial national dish of Burma, mohinga is a fish and rice noodle soup that can, depending on the region, be enriched with an array of different ingredients by adding them to the soup or using them as a dressing or garnish. When it comes to the origin, various accounts exist, some of them dating as far back to the first century.
By the 19th century, mohinga was regarded as a working-class meal due to its low cost, but over time, it has become so popular that today it can even be purchased as a ready-made soup. Although this fish soup is typically consumed for breakfast, it evolved into an all-day dish that is traditionally sold by street hawkers and roadside sellers.
MOST ICONIC Mohinga
View moreChai tow kway is a traditional dish originating from Chaoshan. The dish usually consists of radish cake (also known as turnip cake) that’s cut into cubes and stir-fried with eggs and seasonings. Radish cake is made with a combination of shredded daikon, rice flour, and water.
Chai tow kway can also be steamed and pan-fried, and the dish is typically garnished with scallions before serving. It’s also popular in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, where it’s a part of Teochew people cuisine.
In Singapore, the dish is also made in two versions – white (no soy sauce) and black (made with sweet soy sauce).
Longsilog is a traditional dish that's served for breakfast. The dish and its name consist of a combination of longganisa sausage, sinangag (garlic rice), and itlog (fried eggs). The Filipino-style sausages (pork, garlic, vinegar, salt, sugar) are boiled and fried in their own fat until crispy, while the garlic rice and the eggs are fried in oil.
When served, longsilog is traditionally accompanied by freshly sliced tomatoes or cucumbers.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Champorado is a thick Filipino rice pudding. Originally prepared with chocolate, nowadays it is usually made with cooked glutinous rice blended with sugar and cocoa powder. The origins of the dish derive from a Mexican chocolate-based drink known as champurrado, which was introduced during the colonial period.
Usually enjoyed as a hearty breakfast or a sweet afternoon snack, Filipino champorado can be served hot or cold, drizzled with condensed milk, or accompanied by salted dry fish.
Khao tom is a variety of rice soup from Thailand that combines rice with a flavor-packed broth of herbs and vegetables. The rice is usually cooked, then added to the broth containing shallots, lemongrass, galangal or ginger, and garlic. The combination is then cooked until the consistency becomes thick.
This rice soup is enjoyed hot, typically laced with fish sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice, and often accompanied by small pork balls, shredded chicken, shrimps, fish, or eggs for a more satisfying meal. Chopped coriander, scallions, tofu, chilis, and fried garlic include some of the typical seasonings.
MOST ICONIC Khao tom
View moreTasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “22 Worst Rated Southeast Asian Breakfasts” list until April 19, 2025, 2,418 ratings were recorded, of which 1,592 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.